Thursday's news in under 5 minutes

BREAKING NEWS: The homicide squad have been brought in to investigate the death of an 11-month old girl yesterday in NSW.

Police have said that a 35-year old man brought the 11-month-old girl to Blayney Hospital yesterday with head injuries.

Doctors performed CPR on the infant but were unable to save her.

Police were told the girl had fallen off a trampoline at the family’s home in Mandurama.

A crime scene at the house has been established.

1. French student murder

Police in Brisbane have reconstructed the final steps of murdered French student Sophie Collombet – and in doing so have revised the time they believe she was attacked.

They now believe that she was walking home after a night class at Griffith University’s Nathan campus, leaving after 8.30pm.

She is believed to have caught a bus from Griffith to the Cultural Centre at South Bank and then walked along the riverside boardwalk.

Police say they believe she was attacked somewhere around the William Jolly Bridge.

Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000

2. Jordan McLean suspension

Melbourne Storm prop Jordan McLean has been given a seven-game suspension after he was found guilty of a dangerous throw charge on Newcastle’s Alex McKinnon.

McKinnon is in hospital with a serious spinal injury.

Melbourne chief executive Mark Evans hinted the club would appeal against the ban.

3. High court decision on sex identity

A Sydney resident born a man – but who identifies as gender neutral –  has won the right to be legally classified as neither male nor female.

A High Court decision yesterday determined that sex is not confined to male and female status meaning Norrie can become the first person in the state to be recognised by the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages as “sex not specified”.

4. Family say they asked for Chloe to be taken off her mother

After the sentencing yesterday of the mother of four-year old Chloe Valentine, who died after being repeatedly forced to ride a 50kg motorbike, family members have come forward to say they tried to have Chloe removed from her mother’s care.

Ashley Polkinghorne was sentenced yesterday to serve at least four years in jail for the manslaughter of her daughter Chloe.

Family member Tricia Foord told The Advertiser that close to 200 reports had been made to Families SA going back to when Polkinghorne was six months pregnant at the age of 15.

“She was living a transient life — drugs, alcohol. Remove the child — that’s all we wanted, plenty of family wanted to take that child and put her in a safe place,” she said.

Meanwhile footage of Chloe riding the motorbike has been released.

( Please note this is NOT the actual footage from the court case that featured her mother laughing. It is vision of Chloe riding a motorbike. But NOT the vision that featured her injuries which led to her death)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6MQKdXBwfE

5. Taxi driver sexually assaults girl

A court has heard that a 10-year-old girl with profound hearing difficulties was raped several times by a cab driver hired to take her to school.

The 64-year old man appeared in court charged with eight sexual assault offences.

The abuse allegedly occurred in 2013 a few streets from her home, after the other children had been dropped home for the day.

6. Manus Island inquiry

The Abbott government have revealed they have no plans to release the interim report of the inquiry into the death of Reza Berati on Manus Island in February.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young accused the government of working ”feverishly to cover up” what happened on the night of February’s Manus Island violence, describing the refusal to release the report as ”unacceptable”.

7. Chile Earthquake

Parts of northern Chile have been declared a disaster zone after being hit by an 8.2 magnitude earthquake.

Five people have been reported dead, either from heart attacks or from being crushed by debris, in the cities of Iquique and Alto Hospicio.

About 300 inmates also escaped from a women’s prison in the city of Iquique.

8. Search for MH370

Police in Malaysia have cautioned that they may never find MH370, nor know the reason why the jet went missing.

The Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Razak arrived in Perth last night. He will visit the new Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC), where the southern Indian Ocean search is being led and meet with Tony Abbott, and retired air chief marshal Angus Houston, who is leading the JACC.

Meanwhile a British nuclear submarine has joined the search in the Indian Ocean.

9. Beaten boy kept locked up under stairs

A five-year old boy in the US has been found severely malnourished and injured after allegedly being kept locked under the stairs in a cupboard for two years.

For more read this post here : Warning: the post contains extremely disturbing images of the boy.

10. Father pleads guilty

In Melbourne the father of a five-year old boy who died after being injured by garbage in his filth-ridden home has pleaded guilty to reckless conduct endangering serious injury.

His mother appeared in court earlier this month she too pleaded guilty.

11. Tax the childless to pay for families

A controversial proposal to tax childless people more to assist families is gaining exposure in the US and Australia.

The idea floated by Slate columnist Reihan Salamis is that child-free people earning more than the median household income should be taxed more heavily, and families should pay around $5000 a year less.

“By shifting the tax burden from parents to nonparent, we will help give America’s children a better start in life, and we will help correct a simple injustice. We all benefit from the work of parents. Each new generation reinvigorates our society with its youthful vim and vigour.”

12. Russian beef ban

Russia has announced it will ban the import of frozen beef from Australia after samples tested positive for the growth steroid trenbolone.

Australia is one of Russia’s biggest beef suppliers.

13. Presenter calls NZ women heifers

A NZ TV and radio presenter has had to apologise after calling women who weigh over 72 kilos ‘heifers’ and ‘lardos.’

Newstalk ZB presenter Rachel Smalley thought that her microphone was switched off during a radio conversation.

She had been talking about a story about the emergency contraceptive pill being less effective in women weighing more than 70 kilos, and that the average weight of New Zealand women was over 72kg.

As the show went to a break she said “The average woman is 72kg, heifers … lardos, bunch of lardos,” she said.

 What news are you talking about today?